Thursday, 11 January 2018

It has been a while since I have been on here (or anywhere online come to that) but a little while ago I got in such an awesome flow and wrote what I think is a pretty inspiring email to my newsletter crew that unusually I wanted to share it here too, and trust that those that need to hear this find it =)

Much love

Jennibellie

PS You can sign up for my newsletter if you are not already on the list HERE & you will receive tons of free goodies immediately, woohoooowooooo!!

.......xoxo.......

Through the Crack

…inspiration comes.

For a few days I’ve
wanted to write you, but as you may or may not know I’ve been out of my usual
making stuff cycle due to personal circumstances and so didn’t feel like I
wanted to until I had something of value to offer (plus I think there was a
little resistance there…more on that later).

So for about 6 weeks
I’ve been immersed in...I’m not exactly sure what yet. Some new interests (I
started gaming, whhhhaaaaattt??), a little re-evaluating, lots of tasty food, plenty
of shopping for beads and new arm candy and not much art. Like any. At all.
This came as a shock to me because any time tragedy has struck in my life art
has always been my go to. It has been both my processing, and my escaping
mechanism, for at least the past eight years.

This time felt a lot
different and while the inner critics were nagging at me a little for ‘being
lazy’, ‘wasting time’ etc etc I know myself well enough now to know when I am
in resistance and when I just need a break. When I need a break I give myself
that space, I explore other things such as those listed above. When I am in
resistance (like sending this email) I MAKE myself come out of it, which may
sound harsh (especially for the usual Jennibellie-style philosophy & teachings)
but that is in fact sometimes the kindest thing you can do for yourself.
Because only then do you get to remember who you really are.

You get to breathe
in air again. You get to reacquaint yourself with that quiet inner satisfaction
of having created something once more. You get feel your wholeness.

A few days ago I felt
the need for taking a break turn into resistance. It’s a subtle shift, but if
you honestly check in with yourself the truth of whether you are in *real* need
of a break or in resistance will always show itself. I looked a little deeper; I found the cause of
my resistance was in the idea of ‘having’ to get back in the saddle. So I made myself just sit in my studio
chair, something I hadn’t done in over a month. I wasn’t intending to do
anything, just be there. Then I made
myself pull out my journal and do some written journaling. It’s not that hard, I
could manage that at least couldn’t I? It
took TWO LINES of feeling pretty crap about not art
journaling/painting/creating and woe is me before I said ‘F*** this’ and I got
the paints out. Literally I shall let you read my diary entry of that encounter
if you like by placing a picture of the completed page below.

Once I began painting
in broad strokes of thick, indelicate sloshes of acrylic paint I decided to
post this above pic to facebook stating ‘Beginnings of the first art journal
page in over a month. Starting to feel myself coming back’. The response I got included
many who have been/are feeling the same way, and given what we have all been
going through lately (the rush of the holiday, the back to work rejolt, the
gloomy winter, the upheaval to our routines) it’s hardly surprising that so
many of us are finding our creativity a difficult place to navigate, or even
get in the area of right now - and if you happen to be amongst us here are my
tips for you right now...

Don’t wait for the
flood!

Sometimes when we
take time away from our creativity our muse can tap us on the shoulder and out
of the blue and give us a million projects and ideas we want to immediately get
started on. How nice! BUT, it is not always how things work, and I see many
people waiting for this to happen in
order to get them creating again. The result is streams of emails I get
from people telling me they ‘haven’t created in over a year’, ‘two years’ and
once even ‘six years’. Waiting for the call of the angels and the flood of
inspiration to wash in is a very romantic notion. It sounds so lovely, BUT when
it actually stops us from creating then I think we are a little too attached to
this pretty, but impractical image of creativity. Sometimes you HAVE to MAKE yourself. I think this is too important to
be said only once, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO
MAKE YOURSELF. You. Just. Do!

But again this
doesn’t have to be harsh. It can be as easy as sitting in a chair. Then doing a
little journaling. It can be as easy as taking steps 1-2-3, rather than jumping
to 50 straight away. It can be as easy as coaxing, cajoling, caressing your
scared self back into the vicinity of inspiration…and then allowing the teeniest,
tiniest spark of it to direct you.

Inspiration does not
always come in an overwhelming flood of excitement.

It can come through
the slightest crack in the door…but you have to be willing to take a deep
breath, grab that door handle and ever so slightly, open it up!

Here is that finished
page that inspired this post:

If you are feeling
yourself in resistance then I have a treat for you. I have made my Creative
Resistance Remedy Workshop HALF PRICE for the New Year.

This price is even
cheaper than when I launched it at the Early Bird Price & was originally
just for the first week of this New Year but as I have not been actively
posting/emailing about it I have decided to extend it for you. In truth if you
want to know the exact HOW I made myself sit down and write this email then the
exact trick I used is shared in this course (which now I have written it I feel
pretty amazing actually, surprise surprise…NOT! lol).

This workshop is a
perfect New Years workshop to take as it is for those of you that are ready to
make your creativity more important than your resistance, your comparison, your
procrastination, your perfectionism, your analysis paralysis and all your
critics and create your projects already!

Sound good? Awesome! You can
read the details, watch the accompanying video & grab this bargain by
clicking the ‘Join’ button here:

*Detect Our Wisdoms – what is to go in the journal? Well, we shall see…

*Art Journal – once we have done the work around finding/making our wisdoms we shall art them out in our fancy new handmade journal.

*Apply Our Wisdoms – we will look at how we can consciously apply our wisdoms in our life. This class is not about locking knowledge away in a book never to be seen again, it is about bringing awareness to light to use …and as a result create our own fabulously customised survival book to have forevermore and use as a tool.

(or if it’s already a ‘YES’ workshop for you click ‘Join’ in the classroom here to secure your spot now: journalworkshops.ning.com/group/wisdom) Class Starts 1st Sept & you get LIFETIME access to the class content (so grab it now while it's a bargain!)

Saturday, 5 August 2017

I have recently discovered something about creativity. Through observing my own patterns of creating, and those of others through my creative coaching, I have discovered there are two main ways we create.

These two ways are SUPER useful to help you through many different stages of your projects, but mainly at the very beginning when you ask 'what project should I even do?'

If you would another new video from me then I recently did a facebook live Monthly Challenge* which you can watch here: https://www.facebook.com/Jennibellie/videos/1795888037094865/ & I also sent around my monthly newsletter containing new videos so check that out if you are on my list (or if you're not you can sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/jbgoodies & receive a free Creative Ebook, Exclusive Videos, Collage Sheets, Posters...to name a few - and you get brand new private giveaways, videos, articles & offers each and every month)

I'm off to go pick the winners for the fb live challenge, as I did a giveaway on there also, which I'm intending to do more of so if you've not already 'liked' my facebook page please do so (also hit the 'add page to favorites') to stay informed of these new fb lives and giveaways ;)

Hop you're having a great creative weekend

Jennibellie

*The Monthly Challenge is a free group I host on my online art community Journal Workshops. It is a monthly art date for us to stretch our art/journaling comfort zone in a supportive collaborative environment. If you are not yet a part of this Group come & join in with over 5000 creative comrades and get access to YEARS worth of archived challenges, complete with art vids from me & project shares from the other members, here: http://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/monthly-challengehttp://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/monthly-challenge

Saturday, 15 July 2017

I've had a realisation this week as to why I may have a slight butterfly addiction (those of you that have take my free class Inspiration Station would have seen this, I explain it as I realise there are butterflies ALL OVER those journals lol). My sudden realisation comes from a social media post I wrote a couple of days ago. It's kind of a personal one, so I am sharing it here for prosperity followed by an early peek at a youtube video I'll be posting tomorrow where I create a page with...you guessed it, butterflies. Enjoy

My Great Grandmothers Butterfly fits in nicely in my outdoor studio I think...

When I was a child I remember these enameled butterflies being all over her little flat (apartment to those over you over the pond). On every mirror, windows, picture frame and fridge (…may be this is where my obsession with butterflies comes from?). I don’t know if that was truly how it was or if it just how I remember it, but I always associate these soft little pretty colourful girlie things with an austere, proper, Edwardian woman who I loved but no one in their right mind would have ever called a ‘softie’.

She wore bland clothes, kept a bland house, and was straight down the line. She saw everything as black and white, ‘this is right and this is wrong’. No argument or compromise. She invented the phrase ‘stiff upper lip’. I never remember seeing her smile except in photographs I have seen as an adult, long after she has left the earth. Pure toughness of the First World War generation through and through. Yet I obviously never saw or noticed any of that as a child, she was my great grandma, and I just saw butterflies

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Hope you're having an awesomely creative weekend

Much love

Jennibellie

PS If you're not having an awesomely creative weekend hop on over to Journal Workshops.

There's the New Maker's Meet-Up, a New Art Swap and New Mini Art Classes to Join (plus bonuses added to some other ones!), go check it all out now on my art community,

Saturday, 3 June 2017

Hope you're having a fabulous creative weekend, if not here's some kick-starters for you. The last three days I've posted a video a day so here they all are together, enjoy.

The first one I posted is all about 'How I Organize & Store Scrap Papers':

If you want more Ask Jennibellie videos you can get them via signing up to my Monthly Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/BHv-1. When you do so you’ll also receive a free Creative Ebook, Exclusive Videos, Collage Sheets & other goodies *instantly* as well as the monthly news, articles, videos & other occasional gifts sent direct to your inbox =)

The second was the new monthly art challenge video on Journal Workshops, where we are exploring your relationship with creativity. Check it out here:

The Maker’s Meet-up is another free group on my art community. A weekly meeting place where you can come and share, find support and be inspired (and where I give little extra creative assignment videos such as this one too) =D

So there you are if you follow all three you'll have an organized studio, be getting your creating groove on while improving your relationship with creativity and having a luxurious Creative Spa Day as you do it all. No excuses for a non-creative weekend around here, though in truth these are all 'regular' videos I create all the time (though obviously they are all on new topics each time) for my newsletter or art community - so just follow the links to get more ;)

Here is the ‘3 Glues Technique’ video I mentioned and used in the Juicy Edges tutorial:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Jennibellie

XOXO

PS Are you part of my free art community Journal Workshops yet?? If not get your buns over there and signed up for free weekly and monthly art activities, all of my current online workshops *plus* a free art journaling class.

This is a workshop for those that are ready to make their creativity more important than their resistance, their comparison, their procrastination, their perfectionism, their analysis paralysis and all their critics and create their projects already.

Today I also posted the a Maker’s Meet-Up (with a complementary creative assignment video).

The Maker’s Meet-up is a free group on my free online Art Community Journal Workshops, a weekly meeting place where you can come and share, find support and be inspired (and where I often give little extra creative assignment videos too) =D

The Monthly Challenge is a free group, a monthly art date for us to stretch our art/journaling comfort zone. If you are not yet a part of this Group, come & join over 5000 creative comrades plus get new monthly art vids from me here: http://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/monthly-challenge

Finally currently I'm running a giveaway on Journal Workshops

there are just two days left to enter so if you haven’t thrown your name in yet you can do so here: